Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• via a proton transfer promoted by diisopropylethylamine. In 2023, the Jiang research group achieved a chemically divergent photocatalytic asymmetric synthesis using a dual catalytic system consisting of a chiral phosphoric acid and dicyanopyrazine (DPZ) as the photosensitizer (Scheme 20) [49]. By

Development and mechanistic studies of calcium–BINOL phosphate-catalyzed hydrocyanation of hydrazones

• Carola Tortora,
• Christian A. Fischer,
• Sascha Kohlbauer,
• Alexandru Zamfir,
• Gerd M. Ballmann,
• Jürgen Pahl,
• Sjoerd Harder and
• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 755–765, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.59

• applications of calcium complexes with axially chiral BINOL phosphate ligands have been reported in recent years [28][32][33][34][35][36][37][38], as well as complexes with other chiral phosphoric acid ligands [39]. Since then, other main group metal complexes with BINOL phosphate ligands have been discovered

Copper-catalyzed domino cyclization of anilines and cyclobutanone oxime: a scalable and versatile route to spirotetrahydroquinoline derivatives

• Qingqing Jiang,
• Xinyi Lei,
• Pan Gao and
• Yu Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 749–754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.58

• remains a formidable challenge, primarily due to the inherent ring strain and the difficulties associated with achieving high diastereoselectivity during cyclization [4]. Recently, Chen and co-workers developed a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA)-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of anilines, aldehydes, and

Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

• enantioselectivities. Compound 66d was incorporated into a thiourea organocatalyst framework and successfully tested in kinetic resolution with 73% enantioselectivity. The chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) (R)-C22 was used to catalyze the formation of a C–N chiral axis in the axially chiral product 68 from biarylamines 67

• heteroannulation [50]. The SPINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acid C26 catalyzed the formation of axially chiral products 81 from diarylketones 79a–f and ketoesters 80a–c (Scheme 26). The substrate scope contained a broad range of substituents, including electron-donor groups and whole benzene rings. The authors

• biaryl ketones 84 with cyclohexanones 85 mediated by the second-generation chiral phosphoric acid C26 led to the formation of tetrahydroacridines 86 (Scheme 28) [52]. This Friedländer reaction provided products 86 in moderate to good yields with consistently high enantiomeric purities and high

Non-covalent organocatalyzed enantioselective cyclization reactions of α,β-unsaturated imines

• Sergio Torres-Oya and
• Mercedes Zurro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3221–3255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.268

• the squaramide moiety and a nucleophile through deprotonation as Brønsted base. On the other hand, a chiral phosphoric acid provides a confined chiral environment where the reactants are approached, activating both the azadiene by interaction with the acidic hydrogen and a dienophile bearing a

• imines catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acids will be described. In 2013, Masson and co-workers reported the enantioselective inverse electron demand aza-Diels–Alder reaction (IEDADA) of 1-azadienes 44 with enecarbamates 45 catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid XIV [40]. Although other works involving a

• excellent enantioselectivities (70–95% ee) when using chiral phosphoric acid XIV (Scheme 16). Mechanistic studies were performed to unveil whether a concerted or stepwise mechanism is taking place, such as trying to trap a possible iminium ion intermediate. The outcome of those experiments pointed towards a

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• conceptually different methodology was reported by Rueping and co-workers [41] that was based on the aza-Cope rearrangement of in situ-formed N-α,α’-diphenyl-(α’’-allyl)methyliminium cations catalysed by the BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acid 112 (Scheme 23). The amine 113 acting as the allyl donor source

• ]-rearrangement of ene-aldimines 149, catalysed by the BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) (R)-151 (Scheme 31) [46]. DFT computational analysis suggested that the reaction proceeds via a complex cascade that involves the fragmentation of ene-aldimine 149 to form an imine methylene cation, which in turn

• situ-generated N-acylquinolinium ions, catalysed by a tetrakis-triazole HBD catalyst [40]. Chiral phosphoric acid-catalysed aza-Cope rearrangement of in situ-formed N-α,α’-diphenyl-(α’’-allyl)methyliminium cations reported by Rueping et al. 2008 [41]. Tandem (R)-VANOL-triborate-catalysed asymmetric aza

Catalysing (organo-)catalysis: Trends in the application of machine learning to enantioselective organocatalysis

• Stefan P. Schmid,
• Leon Schlosser,
• Frank Glorius and
• Kjell Jorner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2280–2304, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.196

• [96] investigated a bromocyclization catalysed by a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) and a DABCOnium brominating reagent (Figure 6). The authors calculated transition state conformer ensembles for several flexible DABCOnium systems and performed energy decomposition analysis to separate the interactions

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation of 3,3-difluoro-3H-indoles

• Yumei Wang,
• Guangzhu Wang,
• Yanping Zhu and
• Kaiwu Dong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 205–211, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.20

• synthesis of optically active difluoro-substituted indoline derivatives starting from the corresponding 3H-indoles by chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation was developed. Using Hantzsch ester as the hydrogen source under mild reaction conditions, the target products can be obtained with

• (1a) as the model substrate, Hantzsch ester (HE-Et) as the hydrogen source, and BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acids (CPA) as the catalyst (Table 1). With chiral phosphoric acid CPA-1, the transfer hydrogenation reaction proceeded well in PhCF3 at room temperature and the target product 2a was

• steric hinderance of Hantzsch ester raised (Table 2, entries 1–3) and switching from ethyl to tert-butyl esters the desired product was obtained in excellent yield and enantioselectivity (Table 2, entry 3). Subsequently, we investigated the effect of the amounts of HE-t-Bu and chiral phosphoric acid on

Aromatic C–H bond functionalization through organocatalyzed asymmetric intermolecular aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction: a recent update

• Anup Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 956–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.72

• 2004. In this methodology, a 1,1’-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL)-derived chiral phosphoric acid P1 was used as the catalytic reagent to couple 2-methoxyfuran (1) and N-Boc-protected aldimines 2 to incorporate an aza-tertiary stereocenter into the 2’ position of the heteroaromatic products 3 (Scheme 1) [24

• aza-Friedel–Crafts process between indoles 4 and cyclic N-sulfonyl ketimines 5. The authors employed the BINOL-based chiral phosphoric acid P2 bearing two imidazoline moieties at the ortho-positions as the catalyst which activates both reactants through H-bonding where the NH group of the nucleophile

• than with indoles (Scheme 3) [26]. In 2018, Kim and co-workers developed an aza-Friedel–Crafts protocol involving pyrroles 9 as the π-nucleophile in combination with cyclic N-sulfimines 12. The chiral phosphoric acid P4 was used to catalyze the introduction of a pyrrole-substituted aza-quaternary

Recent advances in the asymmetric phosphoric acid-catalyzed synthesis of axially chiral compounds

• Alemayehu Gashaw Woldegiorgis and
• Xufeng Lin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2729–2764, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.185

• active compounds in medicinal chemistry and as chiral ligands in asymmetric catalysis. Chiral phosphoric acids are recognized as efficient organocatalysts for a variety of enantioselective transformations. In this review, we summarize the recent development of chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed synthesis

• of a wide range of axially chiral biaryls, heterobiaryls, vinylarenes, N-arylamines, spiranes, and allenes with high efficiency and excellent stereoselectivity. Keywords: allenes; atropisomerism; axial chirality; chiral phosphoric acid; heterobiaryls; spiranes; Introduction Axial chirality is one

• will present pioneering examples of chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric syntheses of axially chiral biaryls. In 2013, Kürti and co-workers reported a chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed aryl–aryl-bond formation process for the regio- and atroposelective synthesis of 2,2′-diamino-1,1

Recent advances in organocatalytic asymmetric aza-Michael reactions of amines and amides

• Pratibha Sharma,
• Raakhi Gupta and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2585–2610, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.173

• acids have been shown to catalyze the reactions via single or double hydrogen bonding [57][58]. Saito et al. accomplished the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed intramolecular aza-Michael addition reaction of N-unprotected 2-aminophenyl vinyl ketones 90 to obtain chiral 2-substituted 2,3-dihydro-4

• bifunctional thiourea. Intramolecular aza-Michael addition reaction catalyzed by tertiary amine-thiourea. Intramolecular aza-Michael addition reaction catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid. Asymmetric aza-Michael addition of aniline to β-nitrostyrenes. Intramolecular aza-Michael addition reaction catalyzed by

Prins cyclization-mediated stereoselective synthesis of tetrahydropyrans and dihydropyrans: an inspection of twenty years

• Asha Budakoti,
• Pradip Kumar Mondal,
• Prachi Verma and
• Jagadish Khamrai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 932–963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.77

• -Lewis-acid-promoted asymmetric Prins cyclization strategy. List and co-workers’ iIDP Brønsted acid-promoted asymmetric Prins cyclization strategy. Zhou and co-workers’ strategy for chiral phosphoric acid (CPA)-catalyzed cascade Prins cyclization. List and co-workers’ approach for asymmetric Prins

Chiral isothiourea-catalyzed kinetic resolution of 4-hydroxy[2.2]paracyclophane

• David Weinzierl and
• Mario Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 800–804, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.68

• of rac-PHANOL (4,12-dihydroxy[2.2]paracyclophane) by means of a chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed esterification with achiral anhydrides [28]. This method allowed for high s-factors but was unfortunately not satisfyingly applicable to rac-4-hydroxy[2.2]paracyclophane (rac-2) [28]. Considering the

Recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis

• Callum Prentice,
• James Morrisson,
• Andrew D. Smith and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2363–2441, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.197

• -covalent catalysis with photoredox catalysis was reported by Rono and Knowles in 2013 (Scheme 15) [57]. They showed that using a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA), a photoredox catalyst and Hantzsch ester (HEH) as a HAT reagent, a concerted proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) process is promoted to form

Controlling the stereochemistry in 2-oxo-aldehyde-derived Ugi adducts through the cinchona alkaloid-promoted electrophilic fluorination

• Yuqing Wang,
• Gaigai Wang,
• Anatoly A. Peshkov,
• Ruwei Yao,
• Muhammad Hasan,
• Manzoor Zaman,
• Chao Liu,
• Stepan Kashtanov,
• Olga P. Pereshivko and
• Vsevolod A. Peshkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1963–1973, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.163

• stereocontrol was achieved with the aid of different Lewis acid promoters bearing chiral ligands, while the most recent and at the same time the most general procedure developed by Liu, Tan and co-workers relied on the stereoinduction by a chiral phosphoric acid (Table 1) [40]. In the standard Ugi four

• been elaborated allowing the engagement of different classes of substrates (Table 2). In addition, the group of Tan adapted their findings to the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed three-component Ugi reaction of an aldehyde 2, an isocyanide 3, and a primary amine 5 [58]. As a part of our ongoing

Stereoselective Biginelli-like reaction catalyzed by a chiral phosphoric acid bearing two hydroxy groups

• Xiaoyun Hu,
• Jianxin Guo,
• Cui Wang,
• Rui Zhang and
• Victor Borovkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1875–1880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.155

• To develop new efficient stereoselective catalysts for Biginelli-like reactions, a chiral phosphoric acid bearing two hydroxy groups derived from ʟ-tartaric acid was successfully synthesized via highly regioselective transformations of enantiopure 1,1,4,4-tetraphenylbutanetetraol. The obtained

• -tetraphenylbutanetetraol; chiral phosphoric acid; Introduction Dihydropyrimidinethiones (DHPMs) are an important class of heterocyclic compounds featuring in a large number of natural and artificial compounds possessing various biological activities, and serving as key intermediates for the synthesis of medical drugs [1

• compound making its application highly attractive from the viewpoint of sustainability and green chemistry. Recently, our group reported an asymmetric Biginelli reaction catalyzed by a new chiral phosphoric acid derived from natural tartaric acid, that yielded a high enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee) [17

Asymmetric synthesis of CF₂-functionalized aziridines by combined strong Brønsted acid catalysis

• Xing-Fa Tan,
• Fa-Guang Zhang and
• Jun-An Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 638–644, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.60

• phosphoric acid (Scheme 1a) [26]. In comparison, there is a significant dearth of available synthetic approaches to CF2-functionalized aziridines, particularly in a stereocontrolled manner. Indeed, a handful of reported methods document the employment of difluoromethylimines, difluoromethyl phenyl sulfone

• precursors [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. However, catalytic asymmetric approaches to chiral CF3-functionalized aziridines have only been reported by Cahard in 2012, who utilized trifluorodiazoethane (CF3CHN2) as the nucleophile to react with aldimines catalyzed by chiral

Why do thioureas and squaramides slow down the Ireland–Claisen rearrangement?

• Dominika Krištofíková,
• Juraj Filo,
• Mária Mečiarová and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 2948–2957, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.290

• organocatalysts, including chiral squaramides, thioureas, alkaloids and their derivatives, taddols, binol, chiral phosphoric acid, (S)-proline and its derivatives, amide of tryptophan (Figure 1). These catalysts feature varying steric properties from sterically encumbered, such as C1, C5, C8, or C10, to less

Multicomponent reactions (MCRs): a useful access to the synthesis of benzo-fused γ-lactams

• Edorta Martínez de Marigorta,
• Jesús M. de Los Santos,
• Ana M. Ochoa de Retana,
• Javier Vicario and
• Francisco Palacios

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1065–1085, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.104

• fibrillation. Nevertheless, the most outstanding contribution is the first enantioselective Ugi synthesis of isoindolinones 46 catalysed by a chiral phosphoric acid, reported by D.-X. Wang, M.-X. Wang, J. Zhu and co-workers (route C, Scheme 13) [92]. They obtained very good yields and remarkable enantiomeric

• . Proposed mechanism for the formation of isoindolinones 36. Three-component reaction of formylbenzoic acid 33, amines 2 and fluorinated silyl ethers 39. Three-component Ugi reaction of 2-formylbenzoic acid (33), diamines 41 and isocyanides 42. Non-catalysed (A, B) and chiral phosphoric acid promoted (C

Synthesis of chiral 3-substituted 3-amino-2-oxindoles through enantioselective catalytic nucleophilic additions to isatin imines

• Hélène Pellissier

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2018, 14, 1349–1369, doi:10.3762/bjoc.14.114

• an enantioselective organocatalytic Mannich reaction between isatin-derived benzhydrylketimines 12 and trimethylsiloxyfuran 13 [38]. Using 10 mol % of another type of organocatalyst, such as chiral phosphoric acid 14, the process led at −40 °C in THF to the corresponding butenolides 11 in moderate to

• of N-Boc-isatin imines 3 was optimally promoted by chiral phosphoric acid 23 exhibiting a bulky 2,4,6-(iPr)3C6H2 group, which provided at 50 °C in 1,4-dioxane as solvent the corresponding chiral cyclic enaminone-based 3-substituted 3-amino-2-oxindoles 24 in moderate to quantitative yields (54–99

CF₃SO₂X (X = Na, Cl) as reagents for trifluoromethylation, trifluoromethylsulfenyl-, -sulfinyl- and -sulfonylation and chlorination. Part 2: Use of CF₃SO₂Cl

• Hélène Chachignon,
• Hélène Guyon and
• Dominique Cahard

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 2800–2818, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.273

• radical cyclisation, to yield the tetralin derivative 12 (Scheme 12) [17]. In 2017, Liu and co-workers focused on N-alkenylurea derivatives 13, and from which they developed an asymmetric radical aminotrifluoromethylation methodology, based on a copper salt/chiral phosphoric acid dual-catalytic system [18

• single-electron transfer (SET) between CF3SO2Cl and the association CuBr/chiral phosphoric acid. In the process, SO2 and HCl were released, but the latter was scavenged by Ag2CO3, minimising its impact on the reaction process by notably avoiding hydroamination side reactions. The trifluoromethyl radical

• , replacing the chiral phosphoric acid with diphenyl phosphate (Scheme 14) [20]. Liu’s research group was interested as well in 1,2-difunctionalisation of unactivated alkenes. In this context, they developed two distinct approaches allowing to perform radical-mediated 1,2-formyl- [21] or 1,2

Phosphazene-catalyzed desymmetrization of cyclohexadienones by dithiane addition

• Matthew A. Horwitz,
• Elisabetta Massolo and
• Jeffrey S. Johnson

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 762–767, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.75

• enantioselectively delivered oxabicyclo[4.3.0]nonanes [17]; the Lautens and Lan groups have also contributed to the further development of this reaction [18][19]. The Rovis group employed cyclohexadienone hydroperoxides in a chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed [1,2]/[1,4]-addition cascade [20]. The same group also

Stereo- and regioselectivity of the hetero-Diels–Alder reaction of nitroso derivatives with conjugated dienes

• Lucie Brulíková,
• Aidan Harrison,
• Marvin J. Miller and
• Jan Hlaváč

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1949–1980, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.184

• another method for the asymmetric nitroso hetero-Diels–Alder reaction, using the Wightman chloronitroso reagent 58 as a chiral dienophile (Scheme 31). In 2015, Masson published a chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric nitroso hetero-Diels–Alder reaction of nitrosoarenes with substituted

Rearrangements of organic peroxides and related processes

• Ivan A. Yaremenko,
• Vera A. Vil’,
• Dmitry V. Demchuk and
• Alexander O. Terent’ev

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1647–1748, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.162

• [280][281][282] as the catalyst. The obtained asymmetric oxidation products can be used in the multistep synthesis of new biologically active compounds. Possible mechanisms for the asymmetric oxidation of 3-substituted cyclobutanone 96a with H2O2 catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid are presented in

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of biologically important 3-hydroxyoxindoles: an update

• Bin Yu,
• Hui Xing,
• De-Quan Yu and
• Hong-Min Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2016, 12, 1000–1039, doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.98

• cyclization, giving the tricyclic N-heterocyclic core. Very recently, Shi and co-workers reported the chiral phosphoric acid (CPA, cat. 31)-catalyzed asymmetric dearomatization reactions of tryptamines with 3-indolyl-3-hydroxyoxindoles, affording the indole-containing tricyclic N-heterocycles in a highly